Psychology and Pranking
Psychology: The scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
• Scientific study
– Empirical research
• Experiments, observations
• Behavior: observable actions/reactions
– Examples?
• Mental processes: internal activities
– Cognitions = thoughts
• Examples?
– Affect/Emotion = feelings
• Examples?
Psychology
• In this course we will discuss some aspects of
cognitive and social psychology.
– Cognitive Psychology: The scientific study of
human mental processes
– Social Psychology: The scientific study of human
behavior and mental processes as shaped by the
actual, imagined, or implied presence of others
Psychology
• Why is it important in the context of pranking?
Remember the Canons of Rhetoric?
•
Invention – concerned with finding something to say (what is gonna be said).
•
Use topoi (relationships among ideas) to generate something to say.
•
•
•
•
Arrangement – concerned with how ya order communication.
•
•
To culture jam, a lotta times ya gotta imitate the style of the jammed.
Memory – concerned with remembering communication, making communication memorable, and
having the ability to “off the cuff.”
•
•
To culture jam, ya gotta recognize the order of the jammed.
Style – concerned with how ya “say” or present what you communicate (words, art, images used,
use of metaphors, and stuff like that).
•
•
Cause/effect
Past/future
Similarities/differences
To culture jam, ya gotta figure out how to make the jam memorable to an audience.
Delivery – also concerned with how ya say or present your communication (gonna have an accent,
gonna stand up straight, gonna use Twitter, gonna video, gonna be live – how ya gonna deliver the
information?)
•
To culture jam ya gotta figure out how you are gonna deliver your communication.
Mnemonics
• Mnemonic technique: A strategy that
improves memory
• Examples
– Interactive Images
– Method of Loci
Interactive Images
• Create interactive images that link the
isolated words in a list.
Method of Loci
• Visualize walking around an area with
distinctive landmarks that you know well, and
then link the various landmarks to specific
items to be remembered.
Memory/Mind Palace
• The method of loci has
been know by different
names.
Let’s briefly discuss a few memory
theories.
Different Memory Stores
• We have three different memory stores, or
sets of neurons that maintain information
• Each memory store has a different…
– Duration: the length of time information is
maintained
– Capacity: the amount of information that is
maintained
– Theory of Forgetting: how information is lost
Different Memory Stores
• Fundamental distinctions among memory
stores were first characterized by Atkinson and
Shiffrin
– Three-Stage Model of Memory (Modal Model)
The Atkinson & Shiffrin Thee-Stage
Memory Model
SM
STM
LTM
Capacity
Quite Large
7+/ - 2 chunks Quite Large
Duration
100-250 msec
10-30 secs
Forgetting
Decay
Interference
Lifetime
Retrieval
Failure
Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972)
• Info processing at varying levels of depth
– Deep Processing: Meaning and importance
– Shallow Processing: Surface forms of items
• Deep Processing results in greater memory
• Depth is a continuum
– Structural: The properties of the stimulus word
• Shallow
• HOW MANY VOWELS DOES THE WORD HAVE?
– Phonemic: The sound of the spoken word
• Intermediate
• WHAT IS A WORD THAT RHYMES WITH THIS WORD?
– Semantic: The meaning of the word
• Deep
• DOES THE WORD FIT IN THIS SENTENCE?: THERE WAS A _____ ON THE SIDE OF THE
ROAD.
Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory
• Dual coding theory – memory is improved
when items can be stored as verbal and visual
codes
– Makes memory better
– You can forget one without forgetting the other
Improving Memory
• Engage in deep processing (elaborative
rehearsal)
– Semantic encoding
• Understand what material means
Improving Memory
• Engage in deep processing (elaborative
rehearsal)
– Self-referencing encoding
• Make material personally meaningful
18
Improving Memory
• Information on any given topic will be
remembered better by individuals who have
great interest in it than those who don’t
– e.g., the Swazi’s of South Africa superior memory for
information about cows (Bartlett, 1932)
• Interest in a topic is positively associated with
pre-existing knowledge and schemas into which
new information can be integrated
– e.g., existing soccer knowledge correlates highly with
the ability to remember made-up soccer scores
(Morris et al., 1981)
Improving Memory
• Engage in deep processing (elaborative rehearsal)
– Make the information distinct
• Primary distinctiveness – item is distinct from other items in the
immediate context
– cup
saucer
plate
fork
spoon
knife
bowl
• Secondary distinctiveness – distinct from items stored in LTM
– Orthographic distinctiveness – lowercase words that have an unusual shape
– lymph, khaki, afghan LYMPH, KHAKI, AFGHAN
• Emotional distinctiveness – items that produce an intense emotional
reaction
• Processing distinctiveness – creation of a memory code that makes
that memory distinct from others
Improving Memory
• Engage in adequate rehearsal
– Repetition (maintenance rehearsal) is not enough
– Testing effect
• Doing practice questions increases retention
– Expanding retrieval
• Each item should be tested at the longest interval at
which it can be reliably recalled
21
Mind Maps
• Mind Map:
– A notetaking/brainstorming
strategy consisting of
a diagram, including:
• A central idea
• Related ideas
– More closely related
concepts are located
closer to the central
concept
• Links connecting them
• Buzan and Buzan
(1993)
22
Benefits of Mind Maps
• Presumed Benefits
– Encourage active learning
– More natural than linear
note taking
– Ideas are distilled to their
core, leaving out
unimportant details
– Visual images may be
easier to remember
– Color coding can be used
to indicate category
relations
• Empirical Benefits
–
Farrand, Hussaine, and Hennessy
(2002)
• Task:
– Learn the material by:
» Mind mapping
» Usual study
techniques
– Tested 1 week later
• Results:
– Mind-mapping group
recalled 10% more
» Even though
mind mappers
had less
motivation for
their technique
Improving Memory
• Study in the state/context you will be tested
Gooden & Baddeley (1975)
How can you improve the memory of
other individuals?
How can you make a prank more
memorable?
What if your audience doesn’t want to
learn the information?